美国有线新闻 CNN 助长阿片类药物滥用 强生被罚5.72亿美元

 

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 HOST: Should American companies that manufacture certain drugs be held responsible for overdose deaths from those drugs? That's the first subject we're exploring today. I'm Carl Azuz.

A district county judge in Oklahoma has ordered Johnson & Johnson, a pharmaceutical¹ company, to pay $572 million for its role in Oklahoma's opioid crisis. This was the first state trial that tried to hold a pharmaceutical company responsible.

The crisis itself has been g?oing on for decades. In 2017, President Trump² declared America's opioid crisis a public health emergency. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says between 1999 and 2017, more than 700,000 died from drug overdoses. And that most of those deaths, 68 percent, involved opioids.

These are a class of drugs that include the illegal substance, heroine, but also pain killers³ that are legally prescribed like hydrocodone, morphine, and fentanyl. Johnson & Johnson makes everything from medical equipment to skin care products to baby shampoo.

It also owns a smaller company that manufactures legal opioids. That's why Oklahoma sued it. Oklahoma says Johnson & Johnson created the opioid crisis there that killed more than 6,000 people statewide, destroyed families, and hurt communities.

How could that happen if opioids are legally prescribed by doctors and then consumed by patients? In his decision against Johnson & Johnson, the judge wrote that the company actively⁴ promoted opioids, suggested that Americans in pain needed more pain killers and implied that there's a low risk these drugs would be abused and a low danger in prescribing them.

Johnson & Johnson says it recognizes that the opioid crisis is a complex health issue, but that it followed state laws, marketed its drugs responsibly, and that Oklahoma failed to prove that a Johnson & Johnson company caused any harm. It's planning to appeal the decision.

The reason this case is getting so much attention nationwide is because it could be used as an example in other lawsuits⁵ by other states that are suing opioid makers⁶.

1 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

4 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

5 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

6 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》